FOOTBALL – Bahrain have named their final 24-player squad that have their sights set on the Fifa Arab Cup 2025.
The kingdom’s senior men’s football national team head coach Dragan Talajic has made his call-ups ahead of the regional competition.
The Bahrainis must first play a one-off qualifying game against Djibouti on Wednesday to book their berth in the tournament proper, which is scheduled to kick off on December 1 in Doha, Qatar.
The qualifier is also set to be held at the Qatari capital. It will be taking place at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, and it is slated for a 4pm kick-off.
The Bahrain roster is to be spearheaded by the kingdom’s top international regulars, including Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Komail Al Aswad, Ali Madan, Mahdi Humaidan, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Waleed Al Hayyam, Amine Benaddi, and star goalkeeper Ebrahim Luthfallah.
The rest of the team includes Hussain Al Eker, Ahmed Bughammar, Vincent Emmanuel, Sayed Mahmoud Al Mosawi, Hazza Ali, Mohammed Adel, Sayed Redha Isa, Jassim Al Shaikh, Omar Saber, Sayed Hashem Isa, Mohammed Al Rumaihi, and Ebrahim Al Khattal, along with goalkeepers Mohammed Algharabli and Omar Salem.
Humaidan will be joining the nationals following his commitments with his club Al Zawraa from Iraq, while Benaddi will be with the team after fully recovering from injury.
The Bahrainis are set to travel to Doha today morning. They have been training locally under the supervision of Talajic and his staff over the past couple of weeks.
The nationals played a friendly match against Somalia at home last week in preparation for their clash with Djibouti – a game they lost 1-2.
The Somalians are also hoping to make it to the Fifa Arab Cup and will play Oman, also on Wednesday, in a qualification contest.
Should the Bahrainis book their seat in this year’s Fifa Arab Cup, they will be in Group D where they will join defending champions Algeria, Iraq, and either Lebanon or Sudan, who face off in another qualifying affair on Wednesday.
Group A features Qatar, Tunisia, Syria or South Sudan, and Palestine or Libya; Group B is composed of Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman or Somalia, and Yemen or Comoros; and Group C includes the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and either Kuwait or Mauritania.
This year’s Fifa Arab Cup will be its 11th edition and second under its current format organised by Fifa.
The last edition in 2021, also held in Doha, saw the Algerians claim the title after defeating Tunisia 2-0 after extra-time. Bahrain bowed out in the group stage, after finishing their Group A campaign with just one point from three matches – having drawn with Iraq 0-0 but also losing to Qatar 0-1 and Oman 0-3.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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